TY - JOUR
T1 - Bacterial Small Membrane Proteins
T2 - The Swiss Army Knife of Regulators at the Lipid Bilayer
AU - Yadavalli, Srujana S.
AU - Yuan, Jing
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Small membrane proteins represent a subset of recently discovered small proteins (#100 amino acids), which are a ubiquitous class of emerging regulators underlying bacterial adaptation to environmental stressors. Until relatively recently, small open reading frames encoding these proteins were not designated genes in genome annotations. Therefore, our understanding of small protein biology was primarily limited to a few candidates associated with previously characterized larger partner proteins. Following the first systematic analyses of small proteins in Escherichia coli over a decade ago, numerous small proteins across different bacteria have been uncovered. An estimated one-third of these newly discovered proteins in E. coli are localized to the cell membrane, where they may interact with distinct groups of membrane proteins, such as signal receptors, transporters, and enzymes, and affect their activities. Recently, there has been considerable progress in functionally characterizing small membrane protein regulators aided by innovative tools adapted specifically to study small proteins. Our review covers prototypical proteins that modulate a broad range of cellular processes, such as transport, signal transduction, stress response, respiration, cell division, sporulation, and membrane stability. Thus, small membrane proteins represent a versatile group of physiology regulators at the membrane and the whole cell. Additionally, small membrane proteins have the potential for clinical applications, where some of the proteins may act as antibacterial agents themselves while others serve as alternative drug targets for the development of novel antimicrobials.
AB - Small membrane proteins represent a subset of recently discovered small proteins (#100 amino acids), which are a ubiquitous class of emerging regulators underlying bacterial adaptation to environmental stressors. Until relatively recently, small open reading frames encoding these proteins were not designated genes in genome annotations. Therefore, our understanding of small protein biology was primarily limited to a few candidates associated with previously characterized larger partner proteins. Following the first systematic analyses of small proteins in Escherichia coli over a decade ago, numerous small proteins across different bacteria have been uncovered. An estimated one-third of these newly discovered proteins in E. coli are localized to the cell membrane, where they may interact with distinct groups of membrane proteins, such as signal receptors, transporters, and enzymes, and affect their activities. Recently, there has been considerable progress in functionally characterizing small membrane protein regulators aided by innovative tools adapted specifically to study small proteins. Our review covers prototypical proteins that modulate a broad range of cellular processes, such as transport, signal transduction, stress response, respiration, cell division, sporulation, and membrane stability. Thus, small membrane proteins represent a versatile group of physiology regulators at the membrane and the whole cell. Additionally, small membrane proteins have the potential for clinical applications, where some of the proteins may act as antibacterial agents themselves while others serve as alternative drug targets for the development of novel antimicrobials.
KW - Cell division
KW - Gene regulation
KW - Membrane protein regulators
KW - Respiratory complex
KW - Signal transduction
KW - Small proteins
KW - Sporulation
KW - Stress response
KW - Toxin-antitoxin system
KW - Transport
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U2 - 10.1128/JB.00344-21
DO - 10.1128/JB.00344-21
M3 - Article
C2 - 34516282
SN - 0021-9193
VL - 204
JO - Journal of bacteriology
JF - Journal of bacteriology
IS - 1
M1 - e00344-21
ER -